US11016001B2 - Systems and methods for leak detection in liquid-cooled information handling systems - Google Patents
Systems and methods for leak detection in liquid-cooled information handling systems Download PDFInfo
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- US11016001B2 US11016001B2 US16/148,507 US201816148507A US11016001B2 US 11016001 B2 US11016001 B2 US 11016001B2 US 201816148507 A US201816148507 A US 201816148507A US 11016001 B2 US11016001 B2 US 11016001B2
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
- G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
- G06F1/20—Cooling means
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- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01M—TESTING STATIC OR DYNAMIC BALANCE OF MACHINES OR STRUCTURES; TESTING OF STRUCTURES OR APPARATUS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01M3/00—Investigating fluid-tightness of structures
- G01M3/40—Investigating fluid-tightness of structures by using electric means, e.g. by observing electric discharges
-
- G—PHYSICS
- G01—MEASURING; TESTING
- G01M—TESTING STATIC OR DYNAMIC BALANCE OF MACHINES OR STRUCTURES; TESTING OF STRUCTURES OR APPARATUS, NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- G01M3/00—Investigating fluid-tightness of structures
- G01M3/02—Investigating fluid-tightness of structures by using fluid or vacuum
- G01M3/04—Investigating fluid-tightness of structures by using fluid or vacuum by detecting the presence of fluid at the leakage point
- G01M3/16—Investigating fluid-tightness of structures by using fluid or vacuum by detecting the presence of fluid at the leakage point using electric detection means
- G01M3/165—Investigating fluid-tightness of structures by using fluid or vacuum by detecting the presence of fluid at the leakage point using electric detection means by means of cables or similar elongated devices, e.g. tapes
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F1/00—Details not covered by groups G06F3/00 - G06F13/00 and G06F21/00
- G06F1/16—Constructional details or arrangements
- G06F1/20—Cooling means
- G06F1/206—Cooling means comprising thermal management
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H05—ELECTRIC TECHNIQUES NOT OTHERWISE PROVIDED FOR
- H05K—PRINTED CIRCUITS; CASINGS OR CONSTRUCTIONAL DETAILS OF ELECTRIC APPARATUS; MANUFACTURE OF ASSEMBLAGES OF ELECTRICAL COMPONENTS
- H05K7/00—Constructional details common to different types of electric apparatus
- H05K7/20—Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating
- H05K7/20218—Modifications to facilitate cooling, ventilating, or heating using a liquid coolant without phase change in electronic enclosures
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- G—PHYSICS
- G06—COMPUTING; CALCULATING OR COUNTING
- G06F—ELECTRIC DIGITAL DATA PROCESSING
- G06F2200/00—Indexing scheme relating to G06F1/04 - G06F1/32
- G06F2200/20—Indexing scheme relating to G06F1/20
- G06F2200/201—Cooling arrangements using cooling fluid
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
- Y02D10/00—Energy efficient computing, e.g. low power processors, power management or thermal management
Definitions
- the present disclosure relates in general to information handling systems, and more particularly to leak detection in liquid-cooled information handling systems.
- An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information.
- information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated.
- the variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications.
- information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
- an air mover may direct air over one or more heatsinks thermally coupled to individual components.
- Traditional approaches to cooling components may include a “passive” cooling system that serves to reject heat of a component to air driven by one or more system-level air movers (e.g., fans) for cooling multiple components of an information handling system in addition to the peripheral component.
- Another traditional approach may include an “active” cooling system that uses liquid cooling, in which a heat-exchanging cold plate is thermally coupled to the component, and a chilled fluid is passed through conduits internal to the cold plate to remove heat from the component.
- liquid cooling e.g., fluid fittings, fluid joints, hoses or other fluidic conduits, pumps, cold plates, etc.
- components of the liquid cooling system e.g., fluid fittings, fluid joints, hoses or other fluidic conduits, pumps, cold plates, etc.
- Liquid leaks within an information handling system may cause corrosion to components of the information handling system and/or damage to electrical or electronic circuitry of the information handling system.
- the disadvantages and problems associated with detecting leaks of fluid from active liquid cooling systems may be substantially reduced or eliminated.
- an information handling system may include an information handling resource, an active liquid cooling system for providing active cooling of the information handling resource, and a leak detection system for detecting a leak of fluid from the active liquid cooling system.
- the leak detection system may include a microcontroller configured to generate one or more control signals for leak detection by a leak detection cable and receive measurement signals indicative of a state of the leak detection cable in response to the one or more control signals and a leak detection cable interface circuit configured to interface between the leak detection cable and the microcontroller.
- the leak detection cable interface circuit may include two input terminals for interfacing with the microcontroller, two output terminals for interfacing with the leak detection cable, and a symmetrical network of passive circuit elements such that a first input impedance of a first input terminal of the two input terminals is approximately equal to a second input impedance of a second input terminal of the two input terminals and such that a first output impedance of a first output terminal of the two output terminals is approximately equal to a second output impedance of a second input terminal of the two output terminals.
- a leak detection system may include a microcontroller configured to generate one or more control signals for leak detection by a leak detection cable and receive measurement signals indicative of a state of the leak detection cable in response to the one or more control signals and a leak detection cable interface circuit configured to interface between the leak detection cable and the microcontroller.
- the leak detection cable interface circuit may include two input terminals for interfacing with the microcontroller, two output terminals for interfacing with the leak detection cable, and a symmetrical network of passive circuit elements such that a first input impedance of a first input terminal of the two input terminals is approximately equal to a second input impedance of a second input terminal of the two input terminals and such that a first output impedance of a first output terminal of the two output terminals is approximately equal to a second output impedance of a second input terminal of the two output terminals.
- a method may be provided for use in a leak detection system for detecting for a leak of fluid, wherein the leak detection system comprises a leak detection cable interface circuit configured to interface with a leak detection cable and a microcontroller and comprising two input terminals for interfacing with the microcontroller, two output terminals for interfacing with the leak detection cable, and a symmetrical network of passive circuit elements such that a first input impedance of a first input terminal of the two input terminals is approximately equal to a second input impedance of a second input terminal of the two input terminals and such that a first output impedance of a first output terminal of the two output terminals is approximately equal to a second output impedance of a second input terminal of the two output terminals.
- the method may include: in a first measurement phase, generating a first input signal to the first input terminal and receiving a first response signal in response the first input signal; in a second measurement phase, generating a second input signal to the second input terminal and receiving a second response signal in response the second input signal; and based on at least the first response signal and the second response signal, determining a state of the leak detection cable.
- FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example information handling system, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure
- FIG. 2 illustrates a circuit diagram of a leak detection system, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure
- FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of an example method for leak detection in a liquid-cooled information handling system, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIGS. 4A and 4B each illustrate a graph of example waveforms resulting from application of leak detection control signals to a leak detection cable interface circuit by a microcontroller, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
- FIGS. 1 through 4B wherein like numbers are used to indicate like and corresponding parts.
- an information handling system may include any instrumentality or aggregate of instrumentalities operable to compute, classify, process, transmit, receive, retrieve, originate, switch, store, display, manifest, detect, record, reproduce, handle, or utilize any form of information, intelligence, or data for business, scientific, control, entertainment, or other purposes.
- an information handling system may be a personal computer, a PDA, a consumer electronic device, a network storage device, or any other suitable device and may vary in size, shape, performance, functionality, and price.
- the information handling system may include memory, one or more processing resources such as a central processing unit (CPU) or hardware or software control logic.
- Additional components of the information handling system may include one or more storage devices, one or more communications ports for communicating with external devices as well as various input and output (I/O) devices, such as a keyboard, a mouse, and a video display.
- the information handling system may also include one or more buses operable to transmit communication between the various hardware components.
- Computer-readable media may include any instrumentality or aggregation of instrumentalities that may retain data and/or instructions for a period of time.
- Computer-readable media may include, without limitation, storage media such as a direct access storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequential access storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM, DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), and/or flash memory; as well as communications media such as wires, optical fibers, microwaves, radio waves, and other electromagnetic and/or optical carriers; and/or any combination of the foregoing.
- storage media such as a direct access storage device (e.g., a hard disk drive or floppy disk), a sequential access storage device (e.g., a tape disk drive), compact disk, CD-ROM, DVD, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-
- information handling resources may broadly refer to any component system, device or apparatus of an information handling system, including without limitation processors, buses, memories, I/O devices and/or interfaces, storage resources, network interfaces, motherboards, integrated circuit packages; electro-mechanical devices (e.g., air movers), displays, and power supplies.
- FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of an example information handling system 102 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
- information handling system 102 may comprise a server chassis configured to house a plurality of servers or “blades.”
- information handling system 102 may comprise a personal computer (e.g., a desktop computer, laptop computer, mobile computer, and/or notebook computer).
- information handling system 102 may comprise a storage enclosure configured to house a plurality of physical disk drives and/or other computer-readable media for storing data. As shown in FIG.
- information handling system 102 may include a chassis 100 housing a processor 103 , a memory 104 , a temperature sensor 106 , a system air mover 108 , a management controller 112 , a device 116 , an active liquid cooling system 118 , and a leak detection system 138 .
- Processor 103 may comprise any system, device, or apparatus operable to interpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data, and may include, without limitation a microprocessor, microcontroller, digital signal processor (DSP), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or any other digital or analog circuitry configured to interpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data.
- processor 103 may interpret and/or execute program instructions and/or process data stored in memory 104 and/or another component of information handling system 102 .
- Memory 104 may be communicatively coupled to processor 103 and may comprise any system, device, or apparatus operable to retain program instructions or data for a period of time.
- Memory 104 may comprise random access memory (RAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a PCMCIA card, flash memory, magnetic storage, opto-magnetic storage, or any suitable selection and/or array of volatile or non-volatile memory that retains data after power to information handling system 102 is turned off.
- RAM random access memory
- EEPROM electrically erasable programmable read-only memory
- PCMCIA card PCMCIA card
- flash memory magnetic storage
- opto-magnetic storage or any suitable selection and/or array of volatile or non-volatile memory that retains data after power to information handling system 102 is turned off.
- System air mover 108 may include any mechanical or electro-mechanical system, apparatus, or device operable to move air and/or other gases in order to cool information handling resources of information handling system 102 .
- system air mover 108 may comprise a fan (e.g., a rotating arrangement of vanes or blades which act on the air).
- system air mover 108 may comprise a blower (e.g., a centrifugal fan that employs rotating impellers to accelerate air received at its intake and change the direction of the airflow).
- rotating and other moving components of system air mover 108 may be driven by a motor 110 .
- the rotational speed of motor 110 may be controlled by an air mover control signal communicated from thermal control system 114 of management controller 112 .
- system air mover 108 may cool information handling resources of information handling system 102 by drawing cool air into an enclosure housing the information handling resources from outside the chassis, expel warm air from inside the enclosure to the outside of such enclosure, and/or move air across one or more heat sinks (not explicitly shown) internal to the enclosure to cool one or more information handling resources.
- Management controller 112 may comprise any system, device, or apparatus configured to facilitate management and/or control of information handling system 102 and/or one or more of its component information handling resources. Management controller 112 may be configured to issue commands and/or other signals to manage and/or control information handling system 102 and/or its information handling resources. Management controller 112 may comprise a microprocessor, microcontroller, DSP, ASIC, field programmable gate array (“FPGA”), EEPROM, or any combination thereof. Management controller 112 also may be configured to provide out-of-band management facilities for management of information handling system 102 . Such management may be made by management controller 112 even if information handling system 102 is powered off or powered to a standby state.
- management controller 112 may include or may be an integral part of a baseboard management controller (BMC), a remote access controller (e.g., a Dell Remote Access Controller or Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller), or an enclosure controller. In other embodiments, management controller 112 may include or may be an integral part of a chassis management controller (CMC).
- BMC baseboard management controller
- CMC chassis management controller
- management controller 112 may include a thermal control system 114 .
- Thermal control system 114 may include any system, device, or apparatus configured to receive one or more signals indicative of one or more temperatures within information handling system 102 (e.g., one or more signals from one or more temperature sensors 106 ), and based on such signals, calculate an air mover driving signal to maintain an appropriate level of cooling, increase cooling, or decrease cooling, as appropriate, and communicate such air mover driving signal to system air mover 108 .
- thermal control system 114 may be configured to receive information from other information handling resources and calculate the air mover driving signal based on such received information in addition to temperature information.
- thermal control system 114 may receive configuration data from device 116 and/or other information handling resources of information handling system 102 , which may include thermal requirement information of one or more information handling resources. In addition to temperature information collected from sensors within information handling system 102 , thermal control system 114 may also calculate the air mover driving signal based on such information received from information handling resources.
- Temperature sensor 106 may be any system, device, or apparatus (e.g., a thermometer, thermistor, etc.) configured to communicate a signal to processor 103 or another controller indicative of a temperature within information handling system 102 .
- information handling system 102 may comprise a plurality of temperature sensors 106 , wherein each temperature sensor 106 detects a temperature of a particular component and/or location within information handling system 102 .
- Device 116 may comprise any component information handling system of information handling system 102 , including without limitation processors, buses, memories, I/O devices and/or interfaces, storage resources, network interfaces, motherboards, integrated circuit packages; electro-mechanical devices, displays, and power supplies.
- an architecture of information handling system 102 may be such that device 116 may be significantly downstream of system air mover 108 that it may be significantly more effective for device 116 to be cooled using active liquid cooling system 118 .
- active liquid cooling system 118 may include a local thermal control system 124 , heat-rejecting media 122 , pump 134 , radiator 136 , valve 130 , and fluidic conduits 126 .
- Local thermal control system 124 may be communicatively coupled to temperature sensor 106 , and may include any system, device, or apparatus (e.g., a processor, controller, etc.) configured to control components of an active liquid cooling system for cooling a temperature of one or more information handling resources of information handling system 102 .
- local thermal control system 124 may be configured to control pump 134 and/or valve 130 based on thermal data sensed by temperature sensor 106 , so as to maintain a safe operating temperature for one or more information handling resources.
- local thermal control system 124 may include a pump control subsystem 127 for controlling operation of pump 134 (e.g., a pressure applied to coolant fluid in fluidic conduits 126 for moving such fluid through fluidic conduits 126 ) and a valve load switch control subsystem 128 for controlling operation of valve 130 (e.g., opening or closing valve 130 , controlling an aperture of valve 130 , etc.).
- pump control subsystem 127 for controlling operation of pump 134 (e.g., a pressure applied to coolant fluid in fluidic conduits 126 for moving such fluid through fluidic conduits 126 )
- valve load switch control subsystem 128 for controlling operation of valve 130 (e.g., opening or closing valve 130 , controlling an aperture of valve 130 , etc.).
- Pump 134 may be fluidically coupled to one or more fluidic conduits 126 and may comprise any mechanical or electro-mechanical system, apparatus, or device operable to produce a flow of fluid (e.g., fluid in one or more conduits 126 ).
- pump 134 may produce fluid flow by applying a pressure to fluid in fluidic conduits 126 .
- operation of pump 134 may be controlled by pump control subsystem 127 which may control electro-mechanical components of pump 134 in order to produce a desired rate of coolant flow.
- Radiator 136 may include any device, system or apparatus configured to transfer thermal energy from one medium (e.g., fluid within a fluidic conduit 126 ) to another (e.g., air external to chassis 100 ) for the purpose of cooling and heating.
- radiator 136 may include fluidic channels and/or conduits in at least a portion of radiator 136 . Such fluidic channels and/or conduits may be fluidically coupled to one or more of fluidic conduits 126 and pump 134 .
- Valve 130 may include any device, system or apparatus that regulates, directs, and/or controls the flow of a fluid (e.g., a coolant liquid in fluidic conduits 126 ) by opening, closing, or partially obstructing one or more passageways.
- a fluid e.g., a coolant liquid in fluidic conduits 126
- valve 130 When valve 130 is open, coolant liquid may flow in a direction from higher pressure to lower pressure.
- the operation of valve 130 e.g., opening and closing, size of an aperture of valve 130
- pump 134 may induce a flow of liquid (e.g., water, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, or other coolant) through various fluidic conduits 126 of information handling system 102 , valve 130 and/or radiator 136 .
- liquid e.g., water, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, or other coolant
- pump 134 may induce a flow of liquid (e.g., water, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, or other coolant) through various fluidic conduits 126 of information handling system 102 , valve 130 and/or radiator 136 .
- liquid e.g., water, ethylene glycol, propylene glycol, or other coolant
- radiator 136 heat from the coolant may be transferred from the coolant to air ambient to chassis 100 , thus cooling the fluid.
- Heat-rejecting media 122 may include any system, device, or apparatus configured to transfer heat from an information handling resource (e.g., device 116 , as shown in FIG. 1 ), thus reducing a temperature of the information handling resource.
- heat-rejecting media 122 may include a solid thermally coupled to the information handling resource (e.g., heatpipe, heat spreader, heatsink, finstack, etc.) such that heat generated by the information handling resource is transferred from the information handling resource.
- Leak detection system 138 may be communicatively coupled to management controller 112 and may comprise any system, device, or apparatus configured to detect a presence of a leak of the cooling fluid of active liquid cooling system 118 , and generate one or more electrical signals indicative of whether such a leak is present. As shown in FIG. 1 , leak detection system 138 may include a microcontroller 140 , a leak detection cable interface circuit 142 , and a leak detection cable 144 .
- microcontroller 140 may comprise any system, device, or apparatus configured to generate control signals for leak detection cable interface circuit 142 to determine the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 , to receive one or more signals from leak detection cable interface circuit 142 indicative of the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 , and to further communicate one or more signals to management controller 112 indicative of the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 .
- Leak detection cable 144 may be communicatively coupled to leak detection cable interface circuit 142 and may comprise any system, device, or apparatus having an impedance (e.g., which may be modeled as an electrical resistance in parallel with an electrical capacitance) that may vary based on whether moisture is present on leak detection cable 144 .
- leak detection cable 144 may comprise a twisted pair cable having an electrical resistance that decreases in the presence of increased moisture present on leak detection cable 144 and increases in the presence of decreased moisture present on leak detection cable 144 .
- leak detection cable 144 may have a capacitance. Detection of the existence of such capacitance may be an indicator of whether leak detection cable is present in leak detection system 138 .
- a transient overshoot in response to a pulse driven on leak detection cable 144 may indicate presence of leak detection cable 144 and the lack of overshoot in response to an attempt to drive a pulse on leak detection cable 144 may indicate absence of leak detection cable 144 from leak detection system 138 .
- information handling system 102 may include one or more other information handling resources.
- FIG. 1 depicts only one system air mover 108 and one device 116 .
- information handling system 102 may include any number of system air movers 108 and devices 116 .
- FIG. 1 depicts device 116 including an active liquid cooling system 118 for active cooling of device 116 .
- approaches similar or identical to those used to actively cool device 116 as described herein may be employed to provide active cooling of processor 103 , memory 104 , management controller 112 , and/or any other information handling resource of information handling system 102 .
- FIG. 2 illustrates an example circuit diagram of leak detection system 138 , in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
- microcontroller 140 may comprise processing and control logic 202 communicatively coupled to management controller 112 , two analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) 204 A and 204 B (which may be referred to individually as an ADC 204 and collectively as ADCs 204 ) communicatively coupled to processing and control logic 202 , and two switches 206 A and 206 B (which may be referred to individually as a switch 206 and collectively as switches 206 ).
- ADCs analog-to-digital converters
- Processing and control logic 202 may comprise any system, device, or apparatus configured to generate control signals for switches 206 , which in turn causes microcontroller 140 to generate control signals for leak detection cable interface circuit 142 to determine the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 and/or causes microcontroller 140 to receive one or more signals from leak detection cable interface circuit 142 indicative of the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 .
- Processing and control logic 202 may also be configured to communicate one or more signals to management controller 112 indicative of the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 .
- An ADC 204 may comprise any suitable system, device, or apparatus configured to convert an analog signal (e.g., received from leak detection cable interface circuit 142 ) into an equivalent digital signal that may be processed by processing and control logic 202 to determine whether such digital signal is indicative of the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 , as described in greater detail below.
- an analog signal e.g., received from leak detection cable interface circuit 142
- processing and control logic 202 to determine whether such digital signal is indicative of the presence or absence of a leak of cooling fluid from active liquid cooling system 118 , as described in greater detail below.
- a switch 206 may comprise any suitable system, device, or apparatus configured to open and/or close an electrical pathway under the control of a control signal. As shown in FIG. 2 , a switch 206 may be controlled (e.g., by a control signal generated by processing and control logic 202 ) to selectively couple a corresponding electrical node 208 A or 208 B to one of a ground voltage, a source voltage, and an input of a corresponding ADC 204 . Although FIG. 2 shows each switch 206 as a single-throw, triple-pole switch, the switching functionality of each switch 206 may be implemented in any suitable manner.
- leak detection cable interface circuit 142 may include two resistors 210 A and 210 B (which may be referred to individually as a resistor 210 and collectively as resistors 210 ), each of which may be coupled between an input (at an electrical node 208 A or 208 B) and a respective output (at an electrical node 220 A or 220 B) of leak detection cable interface circuit 142 .
- Resistors 210 A and 210 B may be of approximately the same electrical resistance.
- Leak detection cable interface circuit 142 may also include a resistor 212 A coupled between electrical node 220 A and ground voltage and a resistor 212 B coupled between electrical node 220 B and ground voltage (resistors 212 A and 212 B may be referred to individually as a resistor 212 and collectively as resistors 212 ). Resistors 212 A and 212 B may be of approximately the same electrical resistance. Leak detection cable interface circuit 142 may further include a resistor 214 coupled between electrical nodes 220 A and 220 B. In operation, resistors 210 may protect microcontroller 140 from electrostatic discharge and/or a shorting of leak detection cable 144 to the supply voltage or the ground voltage.
- An example resistance for each resistor 210 may be approximately 10 Kiloohms.
- resistor 214 may ensure an input voltage to leak detection cable 144 is not zero unless shorted to the ground voltage.
- An example resistance for resistor 214 may be approximately 1 Megaohm.
- resistors 212 may form a voltage divider with leak detection cable 144 in order to perform leak detection operations as described below.
- An example resistance for each resistor 212 may be approximately 50 Kiloohms.
- leak detection cable interface circuit 142 may be configured to interface between leak detection cable 144 and microcontroller 140 and may include two input terminals (e.g., at electrical nodes 208 A and 208 B) for interfacing with microcontroller 140 , two output terminals (e.g., at electrical nodes 220 A and 220 B) for interfacing with leak detection cable 144 , and a symmetrical network of passive circuit elements (e.g., resistors 210 , 212 , and 214 ) such that a first input impedance of a first input terminal of the two input terminals is approximately equal (e.g., within manufacturing tolerances) to a second input impedance of a second input terminal of the two input terminals and such that a first output impedance of a first output terminal of the two output terminals is approximately equal (e.g., within manufacturing tolerances) to a second output impedance of a second input terminal of the two output terminals.
- passive circuit elements e.g., resistors 210 ,
- leak detection cable 144 may be modeled as an electrical resistance 216 in parallel with an electrical capacitance 218 such that when in operation, leak detection cable 144 is coupled between electrical nodes 220 A and 220 B such that electrical resistance 216 and electrical capacitance 218 are in parallel with resistor 214 .
- electrical resistance 216 may have a resistance between 1 and 10 Kiloohms and may have a resistance of several Megaohms in the absence of moisture.
- FIG. 3 illustrates a flow chart of an example method 300 for leak detection in a liquid-cooled information handling system, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure.
- method 300 may begin at step 302 .
- teachings of the present disclosure may be implemented in a variety of configurations of information handling system 102 . As such, the preferred initialization point for method 300 and the order of the steps comprising method 300 may depend on the implementation chosen.
- a measurement cycle of leak detection system 138 may begin with leak detection system 138 in an idle state, wherein switches 206 are configured to couple both electrical nodes 208 to ground voltage, which is the state shown in FIG. 2 .
- processing and control logic 202 may control switch 206 A to couple electrical node 208 A to the supply voltage and control switch 206 B to couple electrical node 208 B to the input of ADC 204 B, thus beginning a first measurement phase of leak detection system 138 .
- FIG. 4A illustrates a graph of example waveforms resulting during such first measurement phase, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Accordingly, in the discussion of method 300 that follows, reference is made to the waveforms of FIG. 4A .
- ADC 204 B may sample a voltage present on electrical node 208 B and convert such voltage into a digital representation of the sampled voltage, and processing and control logic 202 may receive the digital representation of the sampled voltage at time t 1 .
- the voltage present on electrical node 208 B may be in a voltage overshoot region of a transient response to the instantaneous increase of the voltage at electrical node 208 A from ground voltage to the supply voltage.
- ADC 204 B may sample a voltage present on electrical node 208 B and convert such voltage into a digital representation of the sampled voltage, and processing and control logic 202 may receive the digital representation of the sampled voltage at time t 2 .
- leak detection system 138 may again enter the idle state, wherein switches 206 are configured to couple both electrical nodes 208 to ground voltage, allowing leak detection cable 144 to be electrically reset.
- processing and control logic 202 may control switch 206 B to couple electrical node 208 B to the supply voltage and control switch 206 A to couple electrical node 208 A to the input of ADC 204 A, thus beginning a second measurement phase of leak detection system 138 .
- FIG. 4B illustrates a graph of example waveforms resulting during such first measurement phase, in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure. Accordingly, in the discussion of method 300 that follows, references is made to the waveforms of FIG. 4B .
- ADC 204 A may sample a voltage present on electrical node 208 A and convert such voltage into a digital representation of the sampled voltage, and processing and control logic 202 may receive the digital representation of the sampled voltage at time t 3 .
- the voltage present on electrical node 208 A may be in a voltage overshoot region of a transient response to the instantaneous increase of the voltage at electrical node 208 B from ground voltage to the supply voltage.
- ADC 204 A may sample a voltage present on electrical node 208 A and convert such voltage into a digital representation of the sampled voltage, and processing and control logic 202 may receive the digital representation of the sampled voltage at time t 4 .
- processing and control logic 202 may analyze the voltage measurements at times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , and t 4 and make a determination of a state of leak detection cable 144 based on the voltage measurements. For example:
- processing and control logic 202 may determine that leak detection cable 144 is shorted to the ground voltage;
- processing and control logic 202 may determine that leak detection cable 144 is shorted to the supply voltage;
- processing and control logic 202 may determine that leak detection cable 144 is not present
- processing and control logic 202 may determine that leak detection cable 144 is dry, thus indicating no leak of cooling fluid from leak detection system 138 ;
- processing and control logic 202 may determine that leak detection cable 144 is wet, thus indicating a leak of cooling fluid from leak detection system 138 ; and
- processing and control logic 202 may deem the measurement results invalid and discard the measurement results if none of the criteria in 1 through 5 above are not met.
- processing and control logic 202 may communicate an indication to management controller 112 that leak detection cable 144 is wet, in response to which management controller 112 may take appropriate remedial action (e.g., provide user alerts, power down all or a portion of the components of information handling system 102 , etc.).
- appropriate remedial action e.g., provide user alerts, power down all or a portion of the components of information handling system 102 , etc.
- step 320 After completion of step 320 , method 300 may proceed again to step 302 .
- FIG. 3 discloses a particular number of steps to be taken with respect to method 300
- method 300 may be executed with greater or fewer steps than those depicted in FIG. 3 .
- FIG. 3 discloses a certain order of steps to be taken with respect to method 300
- the steps comprising method 300 may be completed in any suitable order.
- Method 300 may be implemented using a host information handling system 102 and/or any other system operable to implement method 300 .
- method 300 may be implemented partially or fully in software and/or firmware embodied in computer-readable media.
- leak detection system 138 may be implemented using other optimizations. For example, in some embodiments, averages of multiple samples at the times t 1 , t 2 , t 3 , and/or t 4 may be employed to determine a state of leak detection cable 144 . As another example, readings at times t 2 and t 4 may be compared and discarded if such readings are not within a threshold difference of each other. As a further example, for the various percentages described above with respect to method 300 , windows of a certain magnitude may be added to the various thresholds to account for different types of leak detection cables and/or tolerances of leak detection cables.
- processing and control logic 202 may receive a burst of examples and determine the maximum value of the transient overshoot. Such an approach may enable supporting various cable types and lengths which may have different capacitances and thus different time constants.
- processing and control logic 202 may sample the decay of the overshoot over multiple samples to indicate the times at which the overshoot has decayed to a threshold level. Such approach may allow for shortening of the pulses of the first measurement phase and second measurement phase, this minimizing power consumption associated with leak detection.
- the various thresholds can also be made adaptive. For example, thresholds may start at the beginning of the life cycle of information handling system 102 at particular values which may be adjusted based on long-term trends. As a specific example, the threshold ranges for a determination of a dry state for leak detection cable 144 may be adjusted to slowly track, over time, a long term average of the readings of times t 2 and t 4 , to account for changes due to aging and/or temperature.
- leak detection system 138 may require only low-cost passive circuitry with simple digital processing running on a low-end microcontroller, and may be highly insensitive to process, temperature, and voltage corners, as well as noise.
- leak detection system 138 may be able to detect leak detection cable 144 being electrically shorted to either the supply voltage or ground voltage, detect broken elements (e.g., resistors) in leak detection system 138 , and identify other hardware errors.
- the algorithm described above for identifying a state of leak detection cable 144 may be adaptive and thus may adjust its timing and relevant thresholds based on cable types and long-term trends.
- leak detection system 138 can easily be made even more robust than described above by employing oversampling, averaging, filtering of outlier readings, defining invalid measurement ranges, and/or using long-term trends to avoid false alarms.
- leak detection cable 144 may be energized with a very low duty cycle wherein the average direct current on leak detection cable 144 is zero, which may reduce corrosion of cable wires.
- the signal drive created by leak detection system 138 on leak detection cable 144 may be a fairly “soft” drive such that leak detection system 138 does not cause significant electromagnetic interference and is also immune to electromagnetic interference from other components and immune from electrostatic discharge.
- references in the appended claims to an apparatus or system or a component of an apparatus or system being adapted to, arranged to, capable of, configured to, enabled to, operable to, or operative to perform a particular function encompasses that apparatus, system, or component, whether or not it or that particular function is activated, turned on, or unlocked, as long as that apparatus, system, or component is so adapted, arranged, capable, configured, enabled, operable, or operative. Accordingly, modifications, additions, or omissions may be made to the systems, apparatuses, and methods described herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure. For example, the components of the systems and apparatuses may be integrated or separated.
- each refers to each member of a set or each member of a subset of a set.
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US10859461B2 (en) * | 2019-05-01 | 2020-12-08 | Dell Products, L.P. | Method and apparatus for digital leak detection in liquid-cooled information handling systems |
US11310938B2 (en) | 2020-06-09 | 2022-04-19 | Dell Products, L.P. | Leak sensor drip tray |
US11336264B1 (en) * | 2020-11-03 | 2022-05-17 | Dell Products L.P. | Systems and methods for varying an impedance of a cable |
CN115877926A (en) * | 2021-09-23 | 2023-03-31 | 戴尔产品有限公司 | Serial fluid flow circuit in a liquid-assisted air cooled thermal control system |
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